The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1887-10-08
Reform Democracy.
N. @. States. Oct

been perfectly safe to bet any given sum, SO
soon as it was evident that the election i'll the
Sixth Congressional District had gone against
the Nichols candidate, that the Plcayune
would denounce the Convention, assert that
it was controlled by bosses, andswear that the
voice Of the people had been stitied and the
popular will thwarted.
notwithstanding the Picayunos as;'ertion
that the RefOrmers or Nichollsites never made
the contest in the Sixth District a test of the
strength of the Reformers and the straight
Democracy, the plain, simple, not Trious TACT
is, that the corpse of Col. E. w. Robertson
was scarcely cold, ere the Nichols organs and
leaders announced that no Democrat was to
be nominate d to succeed him who was not an
open and pronounced Nichollsite. Carrying
out this prOnuncamentO, in violation of COM
mon sense and prOpriety, they forced that is-
sue, and, by their SO doing, the question as to
what views the member of Congress should
holdon Federal questions was subordinated to
the question to whether he should be
Nichols man, or McEnery man.
And what was the result! Why, the Mich
ollsites were overwhelmingly defeated by the
Lpeople of the district; and it was just as PLAIN
as the nose on mans face, when the Conven.
ton assembled, that McEnery man would
be the nominee. Every art of the professional
wirepuler, every device Of the schemer, every
trick of the artful dodger in politics was re-
sorted to by the Reform Bosses to divide the
strength of McEneryites, or seduce one Nc
Emery candidate or the other into a Nichols
trap but in vain. The friends of the McEn
ry aspirants were in an overwhelming majori-
ty, and McEnery man was nominated.
At this result everybody, of course, who is
acquainted with the Pics peculiar Democracy
expected ferocious howl from that paper
Not to go further back than 1884, there has
never been o Democratic Convention, State,
District or City, that has not summarily sat
down on the Pic. and the immaculate chiefs
it has set up to save the Democratic party
and redeem the State; and hence there has
never been, in that time, q Democratic Con
venton that the Pic. has not denounced as
having been manipulated by Bosses as hav-
ing stitle1 the voice of the people and whose
nominees it has not sought to defeat, Or to
whom the greatest consideration or mercy it
has accorded, has been its disdainful silence.
This, we say, has been the invariabe course
of the Pic. since the Retormers under the
leadership of Mr.. Kernochan, Gov. Nichols
and the other Reform chiefs, bolted the party
and, aided and abetted by ex-Gov Fl. c. War
moth, United States Supervisor Norton, the
nigger Jim Lewis, aud the whole Radical Gus
tomhouse gang, endeavOred to defeat the reg
ular Democratic nominee and smash the reg
ular party organization, and were emphati-
cally and ignominiously squelched by the gal
liant Democracy of the First District. Ac-
cording to the Pic, the District Convention
that nominated st. Martin was bogus Con-
vention the State Convention that nOminat-
ed MeEnery was stocked Convention and,
quite consistently with this view, though the
Republicans made desperate effort to defeat
McEnery with Col. Stevenson, the Pic. never
uttered word in advocacy of the Democratic
nominee for Governor, or gave the slightest
indication that its sympathies were not with
his Republican antagonist.
Nor do the uniform and persistent denrnci-
ati0ns of ID 1mocratic Conventions that decline
the dictatDn, counsel, or advice of the Plea
ynne reveal the full proportions and perfect
symmetry of our contemporaries peculiar
type of Democracy. During the period we
have mentioneIb that journal has not only
kicked against every Democratic Convention
that has been convened, but it has persistent
ly sought to upr0ot and destroy in the minds
of all Democrats all respect for, or obligation
of, obedience to the DEGREES of party COnven.
tions. Indeed, its most rigorous political ef-
forts have been first, to impose it's own cas-
didates upon the Convention by denohncing
J all others as ringsters or tools of ringsters; /;
secondly, failing in that, to discredit the Con-
vention by denouncing as having been stock
ed by Bosses to thwart the will of the people; /;
and finally, to support bolting candidate or
ticket, and to use all the powers Of denuncia-
tiOn and sophistry to convince Democrats that
they are under no obligations to support the
, nominees of the Democratic Convention. AS
examples of the peculiar DemOcQ1tic teach
ings of the Picayune, which is now being pa
raded by the Reformers as the truest and
| most orthodox of Democratic newspapers, we
! herewith g i've our readers some extracts from
! its editorials printed at the time it was the
organ of the Hunt-Nicholls w armoth- Norton
! league to defeat the Democratic candidate
+ for Congress in the First District, and, in the
E language of Gen. Nichols, put their 'srfoot
and Tom Duffy, now supporting Gen. Nichols
: and constituting the real fighting force of the
t Reformers in this city.
In leading editorial discussing the Demo.
cratic Convention that nominated st. Martin
and belittling party organization, the Plea
! ~ 4ho Of hop
t ut is not necessary that any party should be
: perpetual"
; AID again in the same connection and in
the same article, it said:
3 ''Boting party nomination is often expe
dent"
Q ! Again in the same connection in leader o.
October 14th, of the same year, the Pic. iait
down this peculiar Democratic proposition
j. in evident excuse of the outrageous and inde
, fensible bolt from the Democratic party, il
{ which it was engaged with Gov. Nichols ant
/, other illustTious RefOrmers:
1--WE must strip the abracadabra OF regula
= nominations of all enchantment."
) In another leader on the Goth of Sc ptember
g under the heading "Wbo Are Democrats,
h the great organ of the Reformers, eulogzin
. the Hunt bolters for their efforts to defeat th
k regular Democratic nominee, said:
They 1.-THE Hunt-Nicholls-P -Picaynne bolt
l. ers) are not the less Democrats for all that
/, and scho shall say that they are not better Dem
Il OcrGtS for such Gctt0nS!"
: Here we convict the organ or the Reform
r ers or Niehollsites, not simply of engaging j
Il bolt from single convention ON the groun
that the action of that particular conventio
10 was so outrageousIy corrupt that it had fol
n feited all claims unon the fealty of homes
q Democrats, but deliberately, persistently an
IL systematically seeking to undermine all a
e. legiance to party, to destroy all party disc
% pline, and thus break up all those wise an
t. necessary political connections which are al
r solutely necessary to defeat the machinatior
of our enemies and make prevalent aud effe
9 tive sound Democratic policies and principle
Il Nothing could please the enemies of th
# Democratic party better; so sweet indee
le were these teachings to the Radicals OF I'll
il First District that War1noth a.S1 the Custom
IS house gang felt that they were m8re preoiou
b to chem than the election of even u Republics
e. member of Congress. and hence gave the
support to the Bolting Democrat in wSo
8, behalf they we're enunclated
le But our esteemed Reform Democratic orgf
OIL did not pause here From the hour the inf
,e nous Federal election laws we're enacted tht
be were denounced by every Democrat In I'll
i, Union. The voices of our Statesmen and lea
Sc ers in Congress, on the hustings and throue
es the press have held up these damnable IN
e-l truments of outrage and oppression as q
shame Of America Before the Hunt bolt
er 1884 we never heard that a Democratic tong
at or Democratic newspaper had even spok'
t = of these laws except in terms OF dennnciatio
ut as infamous, scandalons, damnable violation
F. of the Constitution and encroachments up
IL the rights of the States. 1t was LETT for {
es Reform Democrats in the First District
&, 1884 to appeal to these infamous laws to
.A~Gr &EuA nnrUf1